Strategic Overview of Survivor, Episode 7: A Clichéd Result

On the one hand, there’s nothing like a good sandbagging, and Nap Boy got a beach full. Like a number of political candidates in America this week, John must have whistled loudly in the dark to think that Chris, who had been thick as thieves with Lea and Chad, would sell out Chad. Without Chris’ vote, the ex-Lopevi women weren’t going to go out on a limb to throw the vote into a tie when neither was threatened, and thus John’s goose was cooked. On the other hand, whether this eviction was a good move for the Three Amigos is another story.

(Eight in one paragraph? End of clichés and/or colorful metaphors. Let’s move on.)

True, John never had demonstrated any loyalty to Lea, Chris, and Chad, but neither had naked Julie. Only Twila had shown some, but she had been in the majority coalition that, in rump form, still ran Yasur. Scout’s demotion may have been cause to shake Twila’s loyalties, but it’s unclear whether she knew of this. Still, even not knowing that, of those other three, she probably would have been the least untrustworthy. Thus the choice came down to naked Julie or John.

In that instance, naked Julie probably had to go, for three reasons. First, by throwing John a lifeline (sorry), this might have been sufficient to cause to erupt in him a little loyalty to the Three Amigos for future machinations. Second, if it looks like a dyad is forming outside of your group, always bust it up. Surely the boys sensed Twila and naked Julie were combining forces. Third, and most simply, right now chromosomes probably are thicker than anything else (I’ll try harder) and the women’s advantage going into the merge is an almost unimpeachable 6-4. If somehow sisterhood breaks out, the men may be in quite a bit of trouble.

Hats off Clothes off Kudos Props Congratulations to naked Julie for a good few days, first by providing some eye candy visceral pleasure by revealing her assets providing an eyeful showing off her body to the guys to give them incentive to keep her, and then craftily with Twila to pull her closer to her orbit loosen her bonds detach her loyalties from the guys and to draw her closer to allying with herself … that’s it, even if my English professor wife tells me I use too many clichés and metaphors, at least I use them in creative ways. So, Katie, bar the door! … These moves may have made the guys and Twila reconsider her as a target. That then left just John.

Of course, John could have been a major wildcard uncontrollable by the Three Amigos, especially at the merge, but, on the balance, voting out John rather than naked Julie not only probably was a mistake, but may be the fatal mistake for the Three Amigos. Their position now is much more tenuous, but not beyond repair. Simply, they must find a way to break up the budding relationship between naked Julie and Twila in anticipation that both Scout and Rory survive over at Yasur, giving Twila incentive to throw in her lot with them.

Assuming a merge happens almost immediately, one thing greatly to their advantage is the ragtag coalition Ami has thrown together. Again, the Ami’s Army she seems lead are her, passive Leann, traitorous Eliza, and backstabbed Scout – not the ideal coalition when it comes to loyalty. Thus, picking off Scout may not be so difficult and would be crucial to convince Twila to stay onboard – why should Twila abandon Scout just to force a tie (assuming the Three Amigos plus Rory – who by his antipathy to Ami seems to show he would move in this direction – are all still together)?

Here Rory might be a key element to disarming the Yasur women. Possibly, the Three Amigos could hope that he acts as a mole. While it should be obvious to Ami that all his protestations and promises aren’t worth anything, she is the one who, either out of paranoia or strategic miscalculation, decided upon and then carried out Lisa’s removal. Rory could fool her into thinking he was with her so she would keep him, thus unwittingly protecting an ally of the Three Amigos. He has every incentive to do so because he knows if he helps Ami’s Army evict all the other males, what’s to stop them from finishing the job with him? His best protection now is his erstwhile allies.